Waterfalling

Description

Born in Guelph, Ontario in 1951, Aleta learned her love of nature through helping her wildlife pathologist, Lars Karstad, with travels and field work. After the three-year Fine Arts course at Central Technical School, Toronto, she began to work in biological illustration at the National Museum of Canada, and in 1973, married biologist Frederick W. Schueler. They have been residents of the Bishops Mills since 1978, and are very involved in recording local natural history. In 2002, they opened Bishops Mills Natural History Centre in the old General Store building. Aleta’s books have been drawn from her illustrated natural history journals, and since 1995 she has been teaching her method.

Aleta and her husband Fred are currently travelling on the maritime leg of the 30 Years Later Expedition (http://www.fragileinheritance.org/). She is painting full time on this expedition and producing five paintings per week, which she uploads to her blog (www.karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com) from which she runs a week-long e-mail auction for each piece to support the 30 Years Later Expedition.

About Waterfalling:

“16 August found me exploring the series of waterfalls below Sylvester Lake, Temagami District. I paddled here today with another artist from the pARTners For Wolf Lake art camp. A portage trail runs along a ridge above the falls, and the people labouring up the hot sunny trail with packs and canoes could not see much of the falls themselves – but I flitted among the trees and rocks below them, finding my footing along the lower bank, down the ‘chute’ from fall to fall, as excited as a dog on a fresh scent!

The falls were exhilarating! There were five or six of them, with hardly 20 metres of smooth water between them. At least one was long and narrow, a crevasse with white water churning through, and one, a long series of steps for the water to sashay down, flirting white crinolines all the way. One, high and narrow, a plunging column of white violence, was overlooked by a scraggy leaning Cedar like an old shaman – and then there was the one that I call “The Teeth” – wide and high, a classic waterfall over rocky ramparts that project above its crest like blunt teeth with gaps between.

This is a portrait of a small part of one of the falls from about half way down. To me these wilderness waterfalls are expressive of freedom and purity, the energy of water and air shouting and tumbling together, clashing, splashing, and churning – ionizing the air, oxygenizing the water, and inspiring the artist. For me the result is pure joy!” – Aleta Karstad

Additional information

About the AGB

The Art Gallery of Burlington is Burlington's public art gallery and community art centre. We are a place of intersection where creators, cultures and communities meet and share in the wealth of human creativity.

We acknowledge that the land where we are located is part of the ancient Dish With One Spoon Treaty and also the Brant Tract Purchase, Treaty No. 3 3/4 of 1795, 1797 and 2010, and we are grateful to the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and the Six Nations of the Grand River for sharing this territory with us.

Newsletter

Sign up to have all of the latest news from the AGB delivered directly to in our free e-newsletter.
Subscribe now...